IR-01-26-6573
18 March 2026
B White
[FYI request #33834 email]
Tēnā koe
Request for information
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request received 24 February
2026, in which you asked about bicycle safety data. I have answered each part of your
request below:
I am interested in the role that Police have in ensuring compliance with bicycle
safety infrastructure.
Please supply data from the past 5 ful years on:
-
stops, warnings and fines issued for vehicles il egally in cycle lanes
-
stops, warnings and fines issued for vehicles il egally in advanced stop boxes
-
stops, warnings and fines issued for vehicles il egally in any other bicycle
only infrastructure (if any)
For comparison, please supply data from the past 5 ful years on:
-
stops, warnings and fines issued for vehicles il egally in bus lanes
Vehicle stops are recorded in the Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) application. These are
recorded primarily for the purposes of ensuring officer safety and providing dispatcher
awareness of an officer’s location and task. These events do not record the reason for
stopping vehicles.
Cycle lanes and bus lanes are each a type of special vehicle lane. Other types of special
vehicle lanes include transit lanes, and light-rail vehicle lanes. While an infringement
notice or warning may be issued for
‘Unauthorised use of special vehicle lane’
, Police’s
data does not distinguish the type of special vehicle lane that was being used.
Police does not have a specific offence code for entering an advanced stop box. In
addition, Police does not have any specific offence categories related to vehicles il egally
entering or using other forms of bicycle only infrastructure.
These behaviours would be addressed through broader offences, such as careless use,
dangerous, or reckless driving, or parking in prohibited areas.
Police National Headquarters 180 Molesworth Street. PO Box 3017, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
Telephone: 04 474 9499. Fax: 04 498 7400. www.police.govt.nz
Accordingly, these parts of your request have been refused under section 18(g)(i) of the
OIA in that the information requested is not held by Police and I have no grounds for
believing that the information is held by any other agency subject to the OIA
.
-
stops, warnings and fines issued for bicycles il egal y on footpaths
-
stops, warnings and fines issued for bicycles breaking other road rules
(please categorise into sensible breakdown)
I refer you to Appendix 1, which provides the number of infringement notices and
warnings issued for cycle-related offences between 2021 and 2025.
I refer you to Appendix 2, which summarises these infringement notices and warnings by
District, including the monetary face value (for infringement notices) for the same period.
Police does not hold record of the actual monetary amounts received from infringement
fees, as these payments are made to the Crown. The "Total Monetary Face Value"
figures provided in Appendix 2 represent the aggregate value of all infringement notices
issued over the specified period.
Please note that this information was drawn from a dynamic operational database and is
subject to change as new information is recorded.
- stops, warnings and fines issued for cell phone use while driving
Police regularly publishes information of high public interest on our website, including the
number of infringement offence notices issued for mobile phone-related offences, broken
down by region. It is updated quarterly, and the latest available information can be found
here:
Road policing driver offence data - January 2009 to September 2025 | New Zealand
Police.
This part of your request is therefore refused under section 18(d) of the OIA, as the
information requested is or wil soon be publicly available.
If you are not satisfied with the way I have responded to your request, you have the right
under section 28(3) of the OIA to ask the Ombudsman to review my decisions.
Information on how to do this is available online at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Yours sincerely
Superintendent Steve Greal y
Director: Road Policing
New Zealand Police
